Refresh: My 6 year journey from -5 figures to +5 figures (it was 4 years, but I messed up)

astrocytic_kitten

Just found your diary, you’re off to a brilliant start especially as I imagine you’re pretty busy with a baby on the way! I’d have done the same as you with pet insurance, personally I think self-insurance works best if you start when the pets are very young. I’m with a decent insurance provider that has always paid out and have lost a couple of elderly pets recently. Not needing to take cost into account for things like hospital treatment, or the stupidly expensive chicken-flavoured pain meds that were the only type of painkillers the cat would take, was a huge relief.

I’m also a massive fan of frozen berries (and M&S easy meals, my batch cooking adventures are basically just trying to find my own version of M&S meals). Have a try of all the different types of frozen veg to see what works for you, I just can’t get on with frozen broccoli or carrots but I love frozen sweet potato chunks when cooking, and I use frozen spinach a lot in things like curries where it doesn’t really make a difference that it’s not fresh.

I’m so sorry about your sister in law’s horse too, that’s painful - horses have such personalities and they’re so much part of the family. I’d agree a thoughtful card is enough. What about something like a plant as a housewarming gift, especially if it’s from a local plant shop?

ellipticalorbit

lashie said:

Ps - just had a quick look on KL and they do a ‘home sweet home’ candle and matching diffuser which totals at £36.98 with free delivery, personalised gift bag and tag. 

Thanks Lashie - the Home Sweet Home candle is a great shout and the frugal bit of me (if there is one!) thinks the candle itself would be a cute gift - it's only £17. I'm leaning towards it but also thinking a house plant could be a nice alternative. Will decide tomorrow what to go for but thank you very much for de-lurking to make the suggestion, awesome find and much cheaper than the flowers or candles I'd been browsing this morning before reigning myself in! 

ellipticalorbit

astrocytic_kitten said:

Just found your diary, you’re off to a brilliant start especially as I imagine you’re pretty busy with a baby on the way! I’d have done the same as you with pet insurance, personally I think self-insurance works best if you start when the pets are very young. I’m with a decent insurance provider that has always paid out and have lost a couple of elderly pets recently. Not needing to take cost into account for things like hospital treatment, or the stupidly expensive chicken-flavoured pain meds that were the only type of painkillers the cat would take, was a huge relief.

I’m also a massive fan of frozen berries (and M&S easy meals, my batch cooking adventures are basically just trying to find my own version of M&S meals). Have a try of all the different types of frozen veg to see what works for you, I just can’t get on with frozen broccoli or carrots but I love frozen sweet potato chunks when cooking, and I use frozen spinach a lot in things like curries where it doesn’t really make a difference that it’s not fresh.

I’m so sorry about your sister in law’s horse too, that’s painful - horses have such personalities and they’re so much part of the family. I’d agree a thoughtful card is enough. What about something like a plant as a housewarming gift, especially if it’s from a local plant shop?

Thanks AK! It's good to hear someone can relate on the horrendous vets bills, it's awful and hope it's never needed but glad to hear yours have paid out when needed. I'm so sorry to hear you lost a couple of elderly pets too, it's the worst kind of heartbreak.

The frozen berries are genuinely revolutionary (which may in itself be a worrying fact that after a year of pandemic and lockdown one of the most exciting thing in my life is frozen raspberries - haha, oh dear!). That's a great shout about the sweet potato chunks and spinach for making curries etc - I actually think they'd be perfect for this and a really good shout for batch cooking. I will investigate and test them out when I'm up to cooking post arrival!

A plant is a lovely idea for housewarming - great suggestion! I'll see if I can find something nice which is even cheaper than the lovely candle which I've just been suggested by Lashie! I've actually just started reading your diary and it's really inspirational - can really relate to the shopping struggles in the first few pages so will keep reading on for motivation over the next day or two. Sounds like you've come such a long way

In other updates, I've been pondering over the holiday budget and have decided if I use the holiday pot to pay off the card now then I just shouldn't spend on the card when holiday time rolls around - so rather than save £400 over 9 months in interest, I should just prioritise the £2k debt pay off over the holiday full stop and never pay interest on that £2k again. I feel like it's the obvious thing to do and anyone reading my diary must be wondering why I was even still thinking about holidays but I guess it's a gradual process for me, coming to the realisation I can't maintain the same lifestyle while paying off the debt at pace. It's just a bit of an eternal battle, how can I ensure I don't burn out at work and keep the income that's needed in order to clear the debt. Having a holiday to look forward has always kept my energy up and helped me not burn out. It's like a double-edged sword (and dependancy).

However, I'm now realising I can have an annual holiday away without spending anywhere near as much and we should just tighten the purse strings further for the next 2 years of holidays. Husband and I have just been discussing what if we reduce the limit for an annual holiday to £1k each for 2022 and 2023?! I had £2k earmarked in 2022 budget and £3k for 2023 so this would save £3k to put towards the debt.

I'm now thinking a little more radically though and instead of spending out of my planned income, which could instead be put towards the debt, what if I set myself the challenge of only being allowed to allocate money I generate from the handbag sales towards the holiday budget? That way I can put the £5k holiday budget which was ring-fenced across the two year plan towards debt repayment and clear the debts faster and still get the holidays if I can earn them.. I'm going to set myself the challenge! We photographed most of the handbags today - 9 handbags and 3 purses in total to sell so will list them tomorrow and see if I can make some headway with selling any of them! Also who needs 9 handbags in their life (plus the small number I'm keeping - 2? Still to decide. I think there is a 10th bag I can sell...)?! The retail cost of them brand new would have been over £10k all in... it's just excessive and unnecessary. Moving forward there should be a self-imposed limit on the number of bags someone can own. The same should be said for coats and shoes but that's another matter for another day.

I've just figured out how much interest can be saved by paying off the £2k this year and £3k next year extra on the debt and it saves £1,337 in interest. It's a no brainer!

joedenise

It sounds like you've truly had your LBM!  Well done on deciding to use the planned holiday to pay off debt and only using money you can raise from selling your handbags etc.  I'm sure you'll find plenty of other stuff you can sell too!  Good luck.

elbree

ellipticalorbit said:

astrocytic_kitten said:

Just found your diary, you’re off to a brilliant start especially as I imagine you’re pretty busy with a baby on the way! I’d have done the same as you with pet insurance, personally I think self-insurance works best if you start when the pets are very young. I’m with a decent insurance provider that has always paid out and have lost a couple of elderly pets recently. Not needing to take cost into account for things like hospital treatment, or the stupidly expensive chicken-flavoured pain meds that were the only type of painkillers the cat would take, was a huge relief.

I’m also a massive fan of frozen berries (and M&S easy meals, my batch cooking adventures are basically just trying to find my own version of M&S meals). Have a try of all the different types of frozen veg to see what works for you, I just can’t get on with frozen broccoli or carrots but I love frozen sweet potato chunks when cooking, and I use frozen spinach a lot in things like curries where it doesn’t really make a difference that it’s not fresh.

I’m so sorry about your sister in law’s horse too, that’s painful - horses have such personalities and they’re so much part of the family. I’d agree a thoughtful card is enough. What about something like a plant as a housewarming gift, especially if it’s from a local plant shop?

Thanks AK! It's good to hear someone can relate on the horrendous vets bills, it's awful and hope it's never needed but glad to hear yours have paid out when needed. I'm so sorry to hear you lost a couple of elderly pets too, it's the worst kind of heartbreak.

The frozen berries are genuinely revolutionary (which may in itself be a worrying fact that after a year of pandemic and lockdown one of the most exciting thing in my life is frozen raspberries - haha, oh dear!). That's a great shout about the sweet potato chunks and spinach for making curries etc - I actually think they'd be perfect for this and a really good shout for batch cooking. I will investigate and test them out when I'm up to cooking post arrival!

A plant is a lovely idea for housewarming - great suggestion! I'll see if I can find something nice which is even cheaper than the lovely candle which I've just been suggested by Lashie! I've actually just started reading your diary and it's really inspirational - can really relate to the shopping struggles in the first few pages so will keep reading on for motivation over the next day or two. Sounds like you've come such a long way

In other updates, I've been pondering over the holiday budget and have decided if I use the holiday pot to pay off the card now then I just shouldn't spend on the card when holiday time rolls around - so rather than save £400 over 9 months in interest, I should just prioritise the £2k debt pay off over the holiday full stop and never pay interest on that £2k again. I feel like it's the obvious thing to do and anyone reading my diary must be wondering why I was even still thinking about holidays but I guess it's a gradual process for me, coming to the realisation I can't maintain the same lifestyle while paying off the debt at pace. It's just a bit of an eternal battle, how can I ensure I don't burn out at work and keep the income that's needed in order to clear the debt. Having a holiday to look forward has always kept my energy up and helped me not burn out. It's like a double-edged sword (and dependancy).

However, I'm now realising I can have an annual holiday away without spending anywhere near as much and we should just tighten the purse strings further for the next 2 years of holidays. Husband and I have just been discussing what if we reduce the limit for an annual holiday to £1k each for 2022 and 2023?! I had £2k earmarked in 2022 budget and £3k for 2023 so this would save £3k to put towards the debt.

I'm now thinking a little more radically though and instead of spending out of my planned income, which could instead be put towards the debt, what if I set myself the challenge of only being allowed to allocate money I generate from the handbag sales towards the holiday budget? That way I can put the £5k holiday budget which was ring-fenced across the two year plan towards debt repayment and clear the debts faster and still get the holidays if I can earn them.. I'm going to set myself the challenge! We photographed most of the handbags today - 9 handbags and 3 purses in total to sell so will list them tomorrow and see if I can make some headway with selling any of them! Also who needs 9 handbags in their life (plus the small number I'm keeping - 2? Still to decide. I think there is a 10th bag I can sell...)?! The retail cost of them brand new would have been over £10k all in... it's just excessive and unnecessary. Moving forward there should be a self-imposed limit on the number of bags someone can own. The same should be said for coats and shoes but that's another matter for another day.

I've just figured out how much interest can be saved by paying off the £2k this year and £3k next year extra on the debt and it saves £1,337 in interest. It's a no brainer!

I think this sounds like a brilliant idea and probably appeals to you liking a challenge as well. You could keep the money in a stocks and shares ISA (I use 'M*neybox' and love it) or premium bonds so it might earn you something whilst you plan the holiday? As for housewarming plants are great and inexpensive, photo frames are nice too. 

astrocytic_kitten

Well done on the holiday decision! I’m pretty tired so I’m not finding the exact words I want to use for this, but even though you can’t keep up the exact same lifestyle while debt-busting, figuring out which parts of it are most important to you is an important part of the journey. I think most people find a fair bit can be ditched without even missing it, some is harder to give up, then there’s one or two things that they really want to prioritise. Paying off the interest bearing debt obviously needs to be a huge priority and you know that, but it’s also got to be sustainable for 3+ years and you need to make sure your mental and physical health is protected within that. A holiday funded by sales sounds like a great compromise.

I wish I could say I’ve become totally zen and never have spending urges any more but to be honest I still have them and probably always will. I’ve at least managed to put a mental brake on the well worn path from wanting something, convincing myself it’s a need, and then whacking it on the credit card, so I can think about it rationally rather than emotionally these days. I also decided to only sell stuff I didn’t love (which turned out to be half my wardrobe), and realising I’d spent all that money on stuff I didn’t actually love in the first place worked as a bit of aversion therapy. I’m also a big fan of budgeted fritter money so I don’t feel I’m depriving myself.

ellipticalorbit

Okay so I've now listed 9 items for sale. There are a further 3 I can list but I'm just mulling over a couple of them before I decide for good and I need to sort the listing for the final one. I've also got a couple other items in the house which I'm looking to sell so will get around to putting them on Gumtree soon as I have the energy to tackle them. Fingers crossed some of them sell.

I've just looked at where I'd have been had I not started this journey back in January and I can't believe I've had my head in the sand for so long. If I'd just kept servicing the debt and not clearing it then it would cost me £47,326 in interest between now and DFD target of August 2024. That's criminal. With the current plan, I'll be paying £26,856 in interest between now and DFD until I get to a nil debt balance, which is £20,470 less than if I didn't pay it off. That said, it's still a huge amount in interest so the sooner I can move more to 0% or lower interest rates the better. I'll be excited to see my credit report refresh each month waiting for some lower interest offers to come through. I'm going to keep brainstorming how I can move the plan in to the left and reduce the interest but that's as good as I can do for just now.

Still waiting to hear back on the painting with baited breath as that will massively help if it gets a decent valuation and can be sold sometime in the next year or two.

In another update, we've discovered baby clothes hand me downs - we've just been given a couple hundred pieces of clothing of varying age groups from a friend of a friend (who herself had had hand me downs given to her from a couple of mutual friends). In my frugal headspace I've decided to make hay while the sun shines and have re-washed them all and now made up clear storage boxes of all the different age groups to store them in and now have a decent head start for clothes covering from age 0-5 years old. We have some spare wardrobe space in bedroom 2 so will keep them there until they're needed and once we outgrow a size the box can go to the loft to be kept for future child, assuming we have 2, then to be gifted on once we no longer need them. I'm thinking if we're lucky enough to continue to be offered hand me downs then the amount we'll need to spend on baby clothes over the next few years while I'm on the debt free journey will at least be halved.. fingers crossed. I did offer the friend something for the bags of clothes but she declined and was just happy we were going to get the use from them. Bloody marvellous!

ellipticalorbit

A quick update for the day as things seem to be moving in a positive direction...

I've listed one more bag for sale and have sold it straight away, so providing the buyer confirms payment tomorrow, another £363 will be cleared off card 1 once the proceeds come in, which is good news.

I've had an estimated valuation back on my artwork and it's slightly more than I'd thought so I'll be looking to sell it in a big auction at the end of the year and if it sells, which we believe it will given demand for the artist, then it should bring in 5 figures which would be fantastic. I have some other pieces of art which we're discussing auctioning at the same time as well, which would make a big difference. All hypothetical at this stage so not counting any of it in the plan, but nice to know that by the end of the year things could look a bit rosier. In the meantime just going to keep on chipping away at the monthly figures and look to reign things in.

If I'm honest it has been a bit of a spendy week. Spent £112 at M&S on a really indulgent food shop yesterday, but in my defence hubby and I agreed we'd have one more week of all the nice comfort food given I'm about to have this baby, and soon as baby is here we'll start our frugal food shopping. I've also done a load of batch cooked meals for the freezer so don't think we'll need to spend lots on the food shop the first couple weeks baby is here. Re-stocked my frozen berries which had finally run out - it's amazing the things that make you happy in life!

elbree

Great news on the sales and potential for making some big inroads into your high interest debts. So motivational when you make progress like that, well done! I also have a small regular indulge at M&S food court. In lockdown 1 it was the only place with any food in my town! My daughter and I used to go and buy fancy pasta etc and now we still do once in a while for a treat. What's life without a few treats? 

Scott_Weiland79

Hi re below and energy bills you can but try, i would try price comparison sites and switch. Go through top cashback and see what you can do on the sites, you may even get 50-100 in cashback.

Bar that all else you can do is be frugal ie energy saving bulbs in every room, switch off lights when not in rooms,  leave nothing on standby when not in use. Re dishwasher or washing machine dont washing machine or dryer dont stuff in half loads unless you to ie kids school clothes. And maybe turn you thermostat a couple of degrees. 

We are trying to do this but with two kids its hard, as they have a habit of getting up during the night to the bathroom and leaving the house like Blackpool illuminations lol.

We have recently switched oil supplier but sadly cashback sites i dont think offer cashback on switching heating oil.


I've been looking at my monthly costs again and I'm wondering if we can reduce our electricity and gas spend - something I'm going to look into. I need to give some meter readings as our bill had been bumped up over winter, but we've just amended the schedule now it's so warm so I think we should be able to reduce our bill again between now and September over summer and early autumn.